When my darling husband and I married in 2005, each of us had a home with lots of stuff. He had lived on his own for 13 years and I had been living on my own for nine years. We had known each other for six years, through mutual friends, but it wasn't until we started taking ballroom dancing classes that we really got to know each other and fell in love.
When we married, it took about six months to decide which house we were going to live in together. Once that decision was made, it became a process of merging all our "stuff" and doing it with style and authenticity. I'm posting photos of the room where we spend the most time together ... the "Great Room." I've lived in this house since 1987 and love that it has a fireplace made of stones from North Carolina and a vaulted ceiling. There are also a lot of trees on my street which provides habitat for native wildlife.
The one thing that neither of us had was a nice sofa. Mine was ratty and worn. So was his. So, when we had the new tile floors laid, we decided to ditch the sofas and shop. So, we shopped. And, shopped. And, shopped. In April of 2007 we attended a theatre in Delray Beach and there we saw the sofa we wanted. But, of course, it was an antique and not for sale. So, the search continued.
Finally, over Labor Day weekend in 2008, we were shopping in furniture stores looking for a new mattress (we settled on a Tempurpedic, which we love!) and guess what? We found our sofa! From the Tommy Bahama furniture line, it was solid wood with beautiful details and we had a terrific selection of upholstery materials to choose from ...
It was a wait of nearly two months, but, finally, one day in late October, the furniture store called to schedule delivery of our sofa. It was still another two weeks of toe tapping and finger drumming, but finally ... it arrived. Since then, there hasn't been a single day when I haven't admired it and said to dh how glad I am we bought it. I am absolutely certain I can live with it forever! Yes. I know ... I may have to reupholster or replace the cushions at some point down the road. But, the sofa? It's destined to become an antique on its own some day!
Below is our new storm resistent door. We've had it for nearly a year now, and it took six months to get used to all the extra light coming in. We kept looking to see who left the door open!
More recently, we created an art gallery. He had art. I had art. It was stacked here and there because we couldn't seem to make up our minds what to do with it. Then, one Saturday afternoon not too long ago, I said, let's hang it and, together, we created our very own little art gallery. I enjoy it every day and I think dh does too!
It has taken quite a lot of time to merge our lives and possessions together, but as the room takes on its new style, it is emerging to be a room filled with beautiful woods (dh's cabinets are from Italy), Persian carpeting and artistic details that we brought with us or acquired since we joined forces.
I don't know if the Great Room will every be finished. We're working on the kitchen now. DH has built custom cabinets for the kitchen area and we've selected the stone for the counter top. But, one thing is certain ... it is a great room, furnished with love and affection and the shared joy of coming home every day to our artful life!
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